Insiders are warning that the Trump administration’s goal of arresting 3,000 illegal immigrants daily is diverting ICE agents from pursuing serious criminals and those with deportation orders.
Instead, sources claim, federal immigration officials are spending significant time controlling streets. “It’s all about the numbers—big numbers—over quality,” one ICE insider stated.
This policy is described as “unstable,” and it’s contributing to low morale among agents, the source added. ICE is also reportedly facing a budget crisis, exceeding its budget by a billion dollars, according to recent reports.
On Sunday, Trump intensified his focus on deportations, announcing plans for what he calls “the largest deportation program in history,” targeting Democratic-led cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
Agents feel immense pressure to meet the White House’s lofty expectations, often needing to prioritize arrests over public safety. “These quotas hinder our ability to target the most dangerous offenders,” remarked John Sandweg, a former acting ICE director under Obama.
With quotas in place, agents reportedly find themselves having to overlook higher-risk criminals. “Serious offenders don’t make it easy; they’re not hanging around Home Depot waiting to be picked up,” another source noted.
The structure of ICE operations has shifted from targeted actions meant to catch criminals to focusing on easier arrests—often leading to mass protests, like those seen recently in Los Angeles.
During Trump’s initial days in office, the emphasis was placed on targeting the most serious offenders, a promise that seems to have shifted. Recently, reports indicated that a significant percentage of those arrested during Trump’s first hundred days had pending criminal charges.
Trump acknowledged that this strategy was affecting sectors like agriculture and hospitality, which heavily depend on immigrant labor. He recently urged the need to balance the removal of criminals with the needs of these industries.
The administration then resumed its focus on businesses with higher concentrations of undocumented workers after a brief suspension of operations. Homeland Security reiterated its commitment to following Trump’s orders, indicating that a large percentage of arrests target seriously criminal individuals.
A White House spokesperson confirmed that anyone in the U.S. illegally is at risk of deportation. Trump’s administration is working to fulfill its promise to remove undocumented individuals engaged in criminal activities while pushing for funding from Congress to support these large-scale deportations.
Jackson emphasized the importance of funding, indicating that it would enable the deportation of a million people, as well as the hiring of thousands of new officers.
